“I have cut off nations, their fortresses are devastated; I have made their streets desolate, with none passing by. Their cities are destroyed; there is no one, no inhabitant. I said, ‘Surely you will fear Me, you will receive instruction – so that her dwelling would not be cut off, despite everything for which I punished her. But they rose early and corrupted all their deeds.’” Zephaniah 3:6-7.
“Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, to the oppressing city! She has not obeyed His voice, she has not received correction; she has not trusted in the Lord, she has not drawn near to her God.” Zephaniah 3:1-2.
In 2 Corinthians, the apostle Paul defends his authority against the claims of false apostles who had entered the Corinthian church, this incident is in chapters 10-11, here we will look at a small portion to illustrate our point.
To define greed we will start with a leper; Naaman. The commander of the army of the king of Syria, Naaman is described by God Himself as a valiant man.
“Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, ‘How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?’ When Jesus heard it, He said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.’” Mark 2:15-17.
